


Flora and Fauna

by Charles_Basilone



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Language of Flowers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24707215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charles_Basilone/pseuds/Charles_Basilone
Summary: A series of shorts, all taking place in the same universe, about flowers and the people whose lives happen around them. The first chapter is based on a flower shop cliche, but with more of a friendship vibe. There all the angsty tags are handled more off-screen, but the war really does have an after effect on my characters.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	1. Edelweiss

**Flora and Fauna**

It was Friday, so Rex stopped at the grocery store and grabbed a case of beer, putting it in his truck before walking to the florist nearby. As he walked in, he looked around. There was only one employee on duty it looked like. He picked up the roses first, counting out twenty one, like always. He checked each carefully, weighing each one, looking for anything possible wrong with them, especially defects in the red color. Accepting each, he moved on to the poppies, selecting fourteen of them with just as much care as he did the roses. He picked up the fourteen pieces of sage, and headed to the counter to talk to talk to the girl working there.

“Hey, um, I’m looking for edelweiss? I need seven pieces, please,” Rex said, studying the girl’s face, trying to figure out if he recognized her.

“Yeah, we have some, it just came in last night, but, uh, it’s marked as reserved and doesn’t say who or what for,” The girl said, looking up at him.

“Yeah, well, you’re new, Cody probably hasn’t told you. They’re for me, I’ve had him special order it for years,” Rex said, an unreadable smile crossing his face.

“And how do I know that you’re telling the truth?” She said, narrowing her blue eyes at him, searching him for guile.  
“Well, if you’re done trying to perform some kind of mind trick on me, you can call Cody. I’m sure he’s not doing anything important,” Rex said, smirking.

“And that’s what I will do,” she said, pulling out her phone.

“Good.”

“Hey Cody, it’s Ahsoka, I have a guy here, um--” she held the phone away from her face for a moment-- “what’s your name?”

“Rex.”

“Yeah, some dude named Rex, like six foot, almost bald?” She listened for a minute, then said, “Okay. I’ll do that. Sorry, Cody.”

“Sorry about that, I just wanted to make sure.”

“No worries, at least you didn’t give it to some random guy.”

Ahsoka went to the back to get them, and Rex found that he couldn’t stop watching her.

She came back, a minute later, holding seven pieces of edelweiss, tied together with a bit of yellow twine.

“So what did you do, Rex? Must have been something terrible, for all these flowers to be necessary?”

He grunted. “Something like that.”

And with that, he left, Ahsoka’s eyes following him the whole way out.

* * *

She thought about the man the whole next week. He’d intrigued her, to say the least.

She was still trying to learn to make arrangements, so Cody was only letting her close after seven on Fridays by herself, when he said they only had a few customers, who all knew what they were doing. She saw Rex again the next week, and the week after that. He came, like clockwork, every Friday, at the same time and everytime, he purchased the same flowers, never asking for them to be wrapped, or put in a vase, or any of the other things people did with flowers. It was curious, she figured. No one else did that, no matter their reasons for the flowers.

* * *

The new girl had started about a month ago. She was pretty, he figured. She was small, and feisty, too. Tonight she wasn’t there, it was Cody.

“Where’s the new girl, Cody?” Rex asked as he approached the counter to check out.

“Not here, obviously,” Cody replied dryly.

“Thank you, Cody, I’d have never guessed,” Rex bit back with a sarcastic smile.

“Well, she’s not here. You seem to have left an impression, though. She really enjoys y’all’s banter.”

Rex just grunted in response and paid. He didn’t want to deal with this talk again. Not right now, at least. They’d had this talk a couple of times after he’d come back, the older man trying to encourage him not just to be more social, but to date, too. Any slight hint a female might be interested in him, or him in her, and Cody would hound him for weeks.

“Thanks, Cody, but I’m not having this talk tonight. You know what tonight is.”

“Too right, Rex. Hey, if you need it, call me, okay? You’re not alone.”

* * *

When he came in the next week, he looked tired. His eyes had bags beneath them, and his shave wasn’t as clean as normal. She wondered what had happened to him.

“Hey, Rex, are you okay?” She asked when he came in.

“Yeah, Ahsoka, I’m fine. It’s just been a rough week.”

“I’ll go get your edelweiss now.”

Next week, she resolved as he left. Next week she would ask him.

* * *

Rex felt significantly better the next week. At the grocery store, he decided to buy himself good beer rather than the bottled piss he usually bought for Fridays. He tossed it in his truck and walked over to the florist, humming ever so slightly as he went.

When he got inside, he looked around and spotted Ahsoka.

“Hey Ahsoka, how are you?”

“I’m good, Rex! How are you? You look like you’re doing better than last week!”

“Thanks, Ahsoka. I’m doing well. Any big plans for the weekend?”

“Just cuddling with my puppy! Hey, Rex?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I come with you? I want to meet the person you’re buying flowers for all the time!”

Rex was stunned. He hadn’t ever thought about this. What was he supposed to say? He had never thought someone would ask to _meet_ them. Ask about them, how they’d met, yeah, but never meet.

It was as if he was watching someone else as he heard himself say, “Uh, yeah, sure. Is Cody here?”

“Yeah, he is.”

“Go get him so I can speak to him, please.”

As Ahsoka went to get Cody, he gathered the flowers he normally picked up.

“I heard you wanted to talk to me, Rex?”

“Yeah, Cody. Is it alright if Ahsoka comes with me tonight? She wants to meet them?” Rex noticed that Ahsoka gave him a funny look as he said them, but ignored it.

“Yeah, Rex. It’s probably for the best. You need to talk about them more.”

Now Ahsoka looked really confused.

“C’mon, Ahsoka, before Cody decides to make you clock out.”

Ahsoka followed him out, her long blonde ponytail swinging around as she went. She got in the shotgun seat of his truck, and put her seatbelt on, but he didn’t turn it on. She looked over at him inquisitively, wondering what he was doing, to find him separating the flowers into seven identical bouquets and tying each off with twine. She thought about asking him what he was doing, but the intense look on his face made her think twice. He was clearly absorbed in it, performing his task with a delicacy she would have not thought possible. He noticed her looking at him, and looked up, his eyes clouded by something dark and sad.

“We’ll go in a minute, I just have to finish tying these up, sorry,” he said, his voice sounding just a bit off, something in it Ahsoka hadn’t heard before.

“Okay.”

He finished tying his flowers together and started the truck. They drove in silence for a few minutes. Ahsoka was wondering where he was going but something in her mind kept her from asking, though she wasn’t sure if it was the way he gripped the wheel like he was in pain, or the way every now and then he would take a deep breath and let it out slowly, particularly at red lights.

He turned a corner and her heart sank as she saw the sign at the entrance:

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

QUANTICO NATIONAL CEMETERY

“Uh, Rex?” Ahsoka ventured hesitantly.

“Yeah?” he answered hoarsely.

“Why are we here?”

“You wanted to meet who I was giving flowers to every week. That’s where we’re going. Come on,” he said.

He parked the truck and climbed out, clearly expecting Ahsoka to follow.

She followed along as he walked into the cemetery, turning every now and then, going to a deeper part of the cemetery. He finally stopped at a row of graves, looking at them sadly.

“Hey Jesse. I brought someone with me today. I hope you don’t mind, but she wanted to meet you,” Rex said, kneeling and setting the first of the bouquets he made down. He repeated his actions six more times, greeting each grave as if he were greeting the man who was buried, which Ahsoka supposed he was, in a way.

He sat down, leaning against the grave of the one he had called Fives and motioning for her to do the same. He opened the backpack she just now noticed he had and pulled out a beer, silently offering it to her. She took it and he tossed her a bottle opener. They drank together in silence for a few minutes before Rex began to speak.

“You’re probably wondering who these guys are, why I bring them flowers every week. I…” he trailed off for a moment, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, took a deep breath, shuddered, and started again, “I am… I was a marine. These guys, they were my team. I was a Raider and we were in… Well, it doesn’t really matter where we were, does it?” he chuckled humorlessly.

“We were surrounded, outnumbered and for political reasons couldn’t get any air support. Reinforcements were six hours away. We held our position as long as we could. Tactical Element One-- Fives’ element-- they got over run first. One of them was able to pull back to the rest of our position, but that was it. Jesse was my Team Chief, and he exposed himself to fire to pull back a wounded Ridge, but he got hit and neither of them made it. Our surviving corpsman was working on them when he got hit. We all know some first aid, so we did what we could, but we had to return fire or we’d all die, and it just wasn’t enough. You know, they buried them here, they gave them the medals I put them in for-- but they redacted their citations. No ceremonies, no recognition of their sacrifice. No one but us who survived to remember them. The politicians won’t do it-- to them we were just another service number, just another name on a page. None of us were just a number, but they couldn’t see that. And I followed orders, even though I thought the plan was a bad one, and it cost us men. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for it.”

“Rex, I… I’m so sorry, Rex. That’s horrible. I can’t imagine how painful that was,” Ahsoka said, starting to tear up herself.

“S’okay, ‘Soka. I’m over most of the pain now. But since it’s just the survivors who care, I come every week. I get off work, buy the flowers, and come here and lay them, have a drink with my old buddies. You know, Cody was one, a long time ago. He got out earlier than I did, and he’s older than me, but he was one of us. He’d say, ‘you know, sometimes in war, it’s hard to be the one that survives.’ He’s a good man, makes sure that I can get edelweiss for my men,” Rex said, tears silently streaming down his face.

“I was wondering about that-- do you mind explaining the flowers you chose, or do you just want to sit in silence?”

“No, I’ll tell you. Red roses for blood shed and love, red poppies are because they’re a flower for a soldier’s grave, sage for my respect for them, and edelweiss. Edelweiss has a long history. It grows in the Alps, above the treeline. Used to be, if you wanted one, you had to climb up there and get it yourself. It was dangerous, so edelweiss came to mean courage and dedication. Give one to your beloved and it’s the same as a promise ring. It’s been used by mountain troops throughout history as their symbol, the courage of those who fight in one of the most inhospitable climates there is. That’s where we were, in the mountains, you know, when…” he trailed off, his breathing shaky.

“Rex, I’m so sorry, I... I don’t even know what to say,” Ahsoka said suddenly remembering the time she had said he must have done something terrible to need so many flowers, horrified at her insensitive past self.

“Don’t speak. Just drink. That’s what I do.”

“Then how do you get home?”

“Well, usually I don’t actually get drunk, just have a couple, but I always walk home afterwards, anyways. I come back in the morning for my truck.” Rex said pensievely, taking another casual swig of his beer. 

“Thank you, Rex. I’m really touched you shared this with me, it obviously means a lot to you.”

They fell into a comfortable, contemplative silence. Ahsoka noticed how Rex would every now and then look at one of the graves and act as if he was about to say something to them, but then would change his mind and stop himself, looking away and contemplating.

Suddenly, he remembered something she had told him during one of their chats a few weeks ago, “Ahsoka, you said you’re getting your masters in international relations right now, right?”

Ahsoka was taking a sip of her beer as she said this, so rather than reply she just nodded.

“Where do you go?”

“Georgetown.”

“Wait, does one of your professors have a really stupid name, Obi-Wan Kenobi?”

“Yes, he is!” Ahsoka giggled, “I always wondered why his parents hated him so much to name him that!”

Ahsoka took a moment to catch her breath, then said, “Do you know him?”

“Yeah, yeah I do… or more did, I guess, it’s been a couple years. He was a Foreign Service Officer for the place I was. They called him ‘the negotiator’ because they said he could get the host nation to agree to whatever he asked for. He had a buddy he claimed was also Foreign Service, but considering all the places I saw him and what he was always doing, I’d be willing to bet his buddy was Agency.”

“Wait a fucking minute, he mentioned you! I didn’t realize it, but he told us a story about you! He was telling us this story about some bullshit ‘this damned detachment of Marines and their absolute madman of a captain’ pulled in-country that gave him a massive headache trying to smooth it over.”

“He’s only told one of those? He has at least ten, maybe more. We didn’t exactly make his life easy,” Rex said with an affectionate smile.

“Well, I have to ask him for more and tell him you said he’s been holding out on us.”

They fell once more into a comfortable silence until Ahsoka put her hands on her thighs and said, “Rex, this has been lovely, but I gotta get back home and let out my dog, he needs to be fed.”

“Alright, c’mon, let’s get up. I’ll walk you home.”

“Rex, I live like three miles from here.”

“So?”

Ahsoka just shook her head fondly, “You idiot, c’mon.”


	2. Orchids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dinner reception hosted by Obi-Wan and his wife.

**Flora and Fauna**

It was the day after Memorial Day, and Rex was visiting his friends like he did every year. The day before he had seen all their families, as was his Memorial Day tradition. They’d talked and told stories, and as always, he’d apologized to each family, only to have each rebuff him and remind him once more that he’d done everything he could, and at least he’d personally ensured that they at least got the bodies back. He was kneeling with Jesse, talking to him about his daughter, and how much she’d grown since he’d left. When Jesse had left, she’d just started walking; now, she was just finishing kindergarten and was going into the summer before her first grade. He was telling Jesse about the picture she drew on the last day of school when his phone rang.

“Rex Hall,” He said by way of greeting.

The voice that was on the other end was one he’d probably never forget.

“Rex, it’s Obi-Wan. It’s been a while.”

“Obi-Wan? It’s been like five years. How are you? How’s the teaching job?”

“It’s fantastic, Rex. I’m really enjoying it. How are you?”

Rex inhaled, then, “I’m well. I don’t know if you heard, but I got invalidated out, so I’m back in the real world now.”

“Well, I was speaking to one of my students and she mentioned you, so I knew you had to be in the area. Satine and I were hosting a dinner event for some of my students and a few others from the international relations department and I was wondering if you would come? It would be a bit of a formal affair, I’m afraid, but I promise the food will be good and we’d love to see you.”

“I’d love to. When is it?”

“Thursday night, 1830. I’ll send you my address, if you want to come.”

“Yes, please do. I’d be delighted to see you again.”

* * *

Ahsoka looked up as the bell rang and saw Rex. She looked at her watch and frowned. Rex was here, and it wasn’t Friday. It wasn’t the anniversary, either-- that had been two weeks before he had introduced her to his men. So why was he here?

“Hey Rex, you forget the days of the week there?”

Rex played at frowning and said, “Wait, it’s not Friday?”

He couldn’t keep up the pretense however and just laughed at himself.

“Nah, ‘Soka, I’m not here for them. Obi-Wan invited me to his house for a dinner party so I need to bring some flowers for his wife. Already got the good liquor for him, you see. Of course, I’m pretty sure she can drink him under the table, but she likes to play dignified and thinks that that’s beneath her.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Wife? Professor Kenobi has a wife?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Well, he’s just so damn reclusive and he never talks about her so I never realized he was married. I kinda just assumed he was a bachelor. I don’t know, he just seemed to zen for love, you know?”

Rex was just looking at her, and she was starting to feel like she was missing something.

“You are on level one of knowing Obi-Wan. Around level three or four you begin to realize he’s not zen at all, is an absolute disaster and utterly incapable of human function. By the way, did he invite you to the party tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it!”

“So you’ll see. Two quick questions: do you have a vase in here somewhere for sale, and do you want to carpool?”

His question about the vase made her realize he had somehow collected all the flowers for a very nice host gift without her even realizing it.

“Yeah, of course, want to hand me those so I can prep them and put them in it for you?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Rex handed the flowers to her a little absently.

Ahsoka went to the back to grab the vase, yelling over her shoulder, “Also, to answer your carpooling question, yes, please.”

“Text me your address, then. How far are you from Obi-Wan’s place?”

“Like thirty minutes?” Ahsoka ballparked, handing the flowers back to him and taking his card to swipe.

“Then I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at five-forty.”

* * *

Rex hated suits. Sure, he worked in an office now, and rode a desk, but it was an informal office, and the dress code was always pretty casual, polos and khakis, that kind of thing. But wearing a suit just made him sad. It reminded him that he was out now, medically retired when he still had a promising career ahead of him. The suits were the ones who had screwed his friends, too. So putting on a tie always felt a little too constricting, suits were just too stiff, what if he had to run? The therapist told him this was part of his trauma, the anxiety about what ifs, the need to be ready to deal with the situation again, because “they might come back for me.”

Despite his absolute detest for what he considered the garment from hell, he put his on dutifully, knowing that getting to see his old friend again as well as Ahsoka would be worth it. Once he was done, he checked himself in the mirror, made sure his tie was straight and grabbed his keys.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to Ahsoka’s apartment, the navigation system dutifully telling him where to turn as he went. He parked alongside the road and sent her a quick text to let her know he was there.

She came out about five minutes later, looking absolutely gorgeous in her black evening gown. Rex was taken aback. She was stunning. Her hair was in an elegant braid-bun thing, like it had been stitched to the back of her head, and she was carrying a small black clutch that matched her gown. It was the clutch that made him realize something was missing-- she had no host gift.

“Hey, ‘Soka, you gonna bring them a host gift?”

A look of panic crossed her face. “Fuck, I don’t have anything. You already got them flowers, so I can’t do that, shit, he just said to bring ourselves and I didn’t think. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Well, we have a few minutes, hop in, let’s go to the liquor store and you can get them a bottle of wine.”

“Thanks, Rex. You’re a lifesaver.”

* * *

When she went to check out, Rex stopped her.

“Why shouldn’t I check out?”

“Just go put that one back and get a nicer one. I’ll pay the difference. If you want to make a good impression on Satine, you’ll want nice wine. She can be a bit of a wine snob.”

Ten minutes later and with a better wine procured, they were on their way. They were a couple of minutes behind, but Rex wasn’t worried.

* * *

Thanks to Rex’s casual disregard for traffic laws, they arrived at Obi-Wan’s Fairfax brownstone with three minutes to spare. Rex deftly parked in the relatively narrow streets before they walked up to the door. Rex readjusted the bottle of scotch in his left hand as Ahsoka rang the doorbell.

“Rex, Ahsoka, so glad you could make it!”

“M’lady,” Rex said, nodding his head at her.

“For your hospitality,” he continued, extending the bouquet of orchids, canterbury bells, and Queen Anne’s Lace to Satine, whose hair was done up in some elaborate headdress that made Rex’s head hurt just to think about how she had gotten it into it.

“Ah, Rex! Ahsoka! So good of you to come! Thank you for getting the door, darling,” Obi-Wan said, with a kiss to his wife’s cheek.

“I brought a gift for you as well, Obi-Wan,” Rex said, winking at Satine to let her know he was joking as he gave the bottle of Oban to Obi-Wan.

“Well, come in, it wouldn’t do to stand here all night,” Satine said, ushering them in.

* * *

The party was alright, Rex supposed. Obi-Wan’s students were bright, but not bright enough to avoid the trap of thinking his military experience gave him so special insight into the ongoing conflicts around the world. That or they thought he was some dumb grunt they could outsmart, nevermind that he was their professor’s friend and held an advanced degree. But the food was good, and people were nice enough to his face, and he got to be with Obi-Wan, Satine and Ahsoka, so he wasn’t complaining. And speak, or think, Rex mused, of the devil, Obi-Wan appeared with someone he didn’t recognize.

“Jonathan Rogers, please meet Major Rex Hall, USMC, former Raider. Major Hall, Jonathan here wants to be a Foreign Service Officer,” here he paused to give Rex a dark look, “Like Mr. Skywalker was.”

Rex immediately picked up his meaning. “Like Anakin, eh? Well, Mr. Rogers, you’ll have your work cut out for you. Are you studying any languages?”

Rogers responded, and the conversation ranged, covering the many things he was doing to prepare himself for entry into “the Foreign Service.” Rex found the whole charade pretty amusing. One look at this kid and you could tell he had not interest in the Foreign Service, but this was the way the game had to be played, and he obeyed the rules. They were discussing Rogers’ running hobby when it happened.

The first explosion rattled him to his core. His hand flew to his sternum, where his sidearm had been in combat. In its absence his hand ended up patting his upper stomach. The second explosion was louder, and the whistling after saw him crouch and shelter under the table, looking around frantically.

“Everyone, please, if I may have your attention, Satine has dessert ready in the kitchen. It would be a shame to let it go to waste,” Obi-Wan said loudly, though Rex hardly heard him.

After everyone shuffled out of the room, Obi-Wan came over to him, Ahsoka trailing behind.

“Rex?” He said, placing a hand gently on his shoulder, “Come on out, now. You’re not in the mountains anymore. You’re home. It’s just the hooligans down the street.”

Slowly, as he spoke, Rex came out from under the table, and started to seem to come out of the flash back. Ahsoka handed him a glass and he took it, drinking deeply.

“Thanks, Obi-Wan. Thanks for the water, ‘Soka.”

“Of course, Rex. Would you like me to explain to Mr. Rogers?”

“Yes, please. In broad strokes.”

“Of course. I’d do nothing but.”

With that, Obi-Wan departed to the kitchen as well, leaving Rex sitting with Ahsoka in the dining room.

“Rex? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Ahsoka, I’m good now. Thanks,” Rex said, smiling weak at her.

“Hey, Rex? I know now may not be the time, but can I ask you something about your service? I promise it’s not about the war or anything, just ranks.”

Obi-Wan returned now, holding a glass of amber liquid that he offered to Rex, who took it and ventured a sip.

He hummed in appreciation. “That’s the Oban I gave you, isn’t it.”

“Well, I figured now was as good a time as any to break it out.”

“Hmmm. What’s your question, ‘Soka?”

“Well, the other day, when we were at Quantico, we talked about you having been a captain, but when Professor Kenobi introduced you to people, he addressed you as major. I was just confused because you had mentioned you left the military very shortly afterwards, that you’d been medically invalidated out, so I thought you were a captain?”

“I was. That was my last real rank. Oh, yeah, I had a real promotion to major, a reward along with the medals for valor, but it never felt real. I held no command as a major, served no line purpose. So yeah, I was a captain when I met Obi-Wan, and while I was in-country. But I retired as a major. That’s the rank in my file and that’s the proper address for me, technically. Personally, I never felt like a real major. Still feels kinda wrong, since my promotion was so shortly before my departure. But it sure beats being ‘mister.’”

Ahsoka just looked at him for a minute before saying, “Rex, that’s ridiculous, but okay.”

“C’mon, ‘Soka, let’s go see what Satine has for dessert.”

“Okay, but then we’re going home. And I’m driving. You’ve had liquor tonight and I haven’t. All I’ve had is a single glass of champagne.”

“Okay, fair enough, but how are you gonna drive in those heels?”

“I think you’ll find I’m resourceful enough.”

* * *

The dessert had been a delicious chocolate cake. They had mingled for a bit longer, talking with people and just enjoying themselves. Rex had apologized to Jonathan, who just waved it off. Finally, as the party started to break up they headed for Rex’s truck.

“You gonna give me the keys, Rexster?” Ahsoka teased.

“Yeah, here,” Rex said, absently tossing them to her.

They climbed in the truck and Ahsoka started the engine. She had to adjust the seat a lot to reach the pedals, and by the time she was done, when she turned to ask Rex his address, he was already asleep in his seat.

“Fuck,” she swore softly, “well, I guess I can sleep on my couch tonight. He looks like he needs sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been way longer than this should have taken, sorry. I know I need to update TSS, too, but I'm still kinda stuck on that one. I promise it will get updated , though. Oban is actually my favorite drink, but it's too expensive to drink for anything other than special occasions, tragically. And while Ahsoka does drink and drive in this chapter, I don't condone it. Even if all she had was a bit of champagne and was technically sober, don't be like her. Be responsible, kiddos. Please review. Kudos are nice, but reviews are worlds better, especially in the current environment.  
> Very respectfully,  
> Charles Basilone

**Author's Note:**

> I should be writing The Silent Service. Instead I'm writing this. Sorry? Please read, review, feed my need for human interaction.  
> Very repectfully,  
> Charles Basilone


End file.
